Metrics tools in OJS 2.x./3.x

Hi,

We are currently running on OJS 2.4.7 and very soon on OJS 3.0.2.

I read some posts on the forum about metrics and I would like to know if I understood correctly which plugins we can use for metrics in OJS 2.x. and 3.x…
And I will have some questions.

In OJS 2.x.:

  • ALM plugin: The ALM service has been decommissioned but it’s still possible to use it to have only HTML and PDF statitics from internal statitics
  • Plum Analytics plugin: It requires a third party subscription.

In OJS 3.x.:

  • Usage stats plugin extended: display the usage statistics as a chart, using the JavaScript library Chart.js.
  • PKP/Impactstory: a newest initiative on statistics: Impactstory is developing a free service, in conjunction with PKP, to deliver document-level metrics. Impactstory is still under development.

I have some general questions about metrics in OJS 3.x:

  • Is it possible to use Plum Analytics plugin in OJS 3.x ?
  • We would like to know approximately when we can be able to use the new PKP/Impactstory tool in OJS 3.x ?
  • Is the documentation PKP_Statistics_Framework up to date for OJS 3.x ?

I have also specific questions for our personal use.
We don’t display a download link for HTML article but we display directly content of HTML galley by using “HTML Article Galley” in a specific page. (ex: http://journal.tld/ojs/index.php/journal1/article/view/1825). In this page we display the abstract, authors and references from metadata and HTML content from HTMl galley. We also display in this page download links for others galleys (as PDF and XML).

We would like to display for the visitors the following statistics in OJS 3.x.:

  • the number of views of the article page and
  • the number of downloads of others galleys: PDF/EPUB/XML

What can we use now to do that in OJS 3.x.?

I understand the new extended “usage stats plugin” display a chart with the number of downloads. But can it display the number of views of article page which contains abstract ? Or do we have to use another plugin to do that as COUNTER Statistics ?

Thanks in advance for your answers.
Best regards.
Helene

1 Like

I can speak to the questions of Plum Analytics with OJS 3 and the relationship of COUNTER to downloads and viewing of the fulltext.

Getting usage statistics from OJS to PlumX within OJS 2.x is dependent on two plugins: the SUSHI-Lite plugin for transferring the COUNTER reports to PlumX, and the Plum Analytics plugin for displaying the PlumX widget. Neither of these has, as of yet, been ported to 3.x. This may become a more pressing change as more of our journals express interest in 3.x.

OJS bases its primary metric type on COUNTER downloads. COUNTER standards require that when the fulltext of an article is delivered (whether by viewing the HTML or by downloading a PDF/EPUB/XML/etc) this is counted and included for reporting via standard reports like JR1, AR1, etc. OJS 2.x and 3.x should therefore be tagging both the HTML views and file downloads within the metric “ojs:counter”. If you find examples where that is not happening, it is a bug and should be reported!

Hi @hcl

I can say something about Usage Statistics Plugin:

It is also available for OJS 2.4.x. The chart is not there, but with a small code changes, the numbers can be textually displayed e.g. on the article page.

The documentation PKP_Statistics_Framework is not 100% compatible with OJS 3.x, but 99,9% :wink: – for example the path to the plugin and reports are different in OJS 3.x but the logic and the functionality is the same. Thus it can be well used.

The Usage Statistics Plugin counts the access of the article abstract page and thus in your case also of the HTML galley, but this is not considered in the display chart. You are correct: the chart considers/displays the total numbers for all full text galleys for the current year. Again, with a minor code changes, the numbers (as you require them) can be textually displayed or with some more adaptation they could be considered in the chart.

Best,
Bozana

I’ve edited the PKP Statistics Framework “Processing Log Files” section to note that the XML files for the scheduled tasks have moved from the application directory to the shared library directory in 3.x. Does that get us beyond the 99.9%?

1 Like

:smiley: You are great @ctgraham!

Hi,

We migrated to OJS 3.1.0-1 since last december and we were wondering if there was any recent news about metrics in OJS3 ?

  • Is it now possible to use Plum Analytics plugin in OJS 3.x ?
  • When we can be able to use the new PKP/Impactstory tool in OJS 3.x ?
  • Will the Usage Statistics Plugin include in a new version the counts of the access of the article abstract ?

Thanks in advance for your answers.
Best regards.
Helene

Hi @hcl

I do now know much about Plum Analytics plugin – @ctgraham can surely tell more :slight_smile:
The PKP/Imactstory tool is coming soon – there is still some work to be done, but then…
The Usage Statistics Plugin counts the access on article abstract as well, the numbers are just not currently considered in the graph that comes with the plugin – only file downloads – but those are available via reports/report plugins.

Best,
Bozana

To make use of Plum Analytics statistics, you would need both the Plum Analytics plugin for display and the SUSHI-Lite plugin for transferring usage statistics to Plum.

We do intend to update both plugins to OJS 3.x, but this work has not been scheduled at this time. We are still operating in a largely OJS 2.x environment locally. The larger challenge is the SUSHI-Lite plugin. Migrating the plugins to OJS 3.x will almost certainly come after the next formal revision of the SUSHI-Lite specification, which the NISO Working Group is currently finalizing. This will involve some pretty significant changes: specifically, moving to COUNTER Release 5 for the report format and to Swagger as an underlying API framework.

Hi @bozana,

Thank you for your answer.

When you say PKP/Imactstory tool is coming soon, are you able to tell if it’s planned in a few days or rather in a few months ?
I’m sorry to ask you that, but one of our journal have been waiting for metrics for a long time and they are no longer ready to wait several months. They want something now. Unless if you tell me it’s coming very soon.
Our other journals are less in a hurry and can wait a little longer.

If, the Usage Statistics Plugin counts the access on article abstract as well, is it possible to plan to integrate this number in the graph ?

Thanks again for your answers.

Kind regards.
Helene

Hi @hcl

I think it will take rather a few months for the new ALM plugin to be ready to be used, i.e. the whole PKP-Impactstory work, but I might be wrong – @jalperin might know it better.

We are currently not considering the abstract views in the Usage Statistics graph, but we are planing to consider and thus visualise the counts from the Usage Statistics plugin in the new ALM plugin as well, then also the abstract counts.
I’ll double check with @NateWr if we would like to change the current Usage Statistics graph as well, but I believe that this will not be our priority now.
Else, maybe you could make some changes, in order to present those counts to the user as well…

Best,
Bozana

Crossref Event Data is still in Beta, and our work with ImpactStory relies on that. We are basically ready to go as soon as they are. We have some minor things to do with the ALM Plugin, and so a test version will be available in weeks, not months, but it’ll still rely on Crossref’s service.

It’ll also lack Facebook metrics for now, since Crossref is not collecting them. We are working on a solution for those as well, but those will be a couple more months.

I’ll double check with @NateWr if we would like to change the current Usage Statistics graph as well, but I believe that this will not be our priority now.

Not right at the moment, though I suspect that our upcoming work on stats throughout the platform will lead to a few more options for presenting stats to users.

Hi @NateWr, @jalperin,

How can I track progress of project PKP-Impactstory? Is there an issue open for this project ?

Thanks for your answer.

Best regards.
Helene

Hi @hcl,

I found the following issue in our list:

https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/issues/344

It’s part of the overall statistics project, which may have other issues you’re interested in:

Hi @NateWr,

I didn’t find what i was looking for about project PKP-Impactstory in statistics projec page.
Do you have some news about the new ALM Plugin rely on Crossref’s service and your work with ImpactStory which @jalperin was talking about ?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Best regards.
Helene

I haven’t worked on the ALM stuff myself. @jalperin has been doing a lot of the stuff with ImpactStory and @bozana has done a little bit of the implementation on the OJS side.

Hi @hcl

Yes, the new ALM plugin will use Paperbuzz service/API, which uses Crossref’s service…

Best,
Bozana

Hi @bozana,

When the new ALM plugin will be available ?
Is it a web page where we can track progress of this plugin ?

Thanks again for your answer.

Best regards.
Helene

Hi @hcl,

We are in the testing phase right now.
You can track this issue: Update to ALM plugin · Issue #344 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub. Soon, after I tested a few things, I will link the current ALM plugin version there, which is currently under development and in my GitHub repository GitHub - bozana/ALM at ojs3.

Best,
Bozana

Waiting for the release